Top Entertainment News: Woman ordered to pay $1.5 million to trade group for illegally downloading 24 songs

Photo by Bruno Vincent/Getty ImagesOnce a haven for illegal file-sharing, website Napster now charges per download. Other free file-sharing sites have cost users millions of dollars in criminal penalties.

In her third court appearance for illegally sharing music online, a Minnesota woman was ordered by a jury to pay $1.5 million in damages to trade group Recording Industry Association of America.

Although the company contends Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a 33-year old mother of four, shared more than 1,700 songs on file-sharing site Kazaa, it sued over only 24 of them. On Wednesday, Thomas-Rasset was ordered to pay 62,500 dollars per song for violating copyrights.

A spokesman for the RIAA said at first the company tried to settle with Thomas-Rasset for $5,000 but she refused. Under federal law, a recording company is entitled to any amount between 750 and 30,000 dollars per infringement.

Most people targeted for illegally downloading music have settled for about 3,500 dollars each. Thomas-Rasset said the punishment doesn't fit the crime and there is no way she can afford to pay the damages. She is planning to appeal the decision and hinted she would declare bankruptcy before ever paying the company.